People: May 16, 1983

With a bullhorn as his paintbrush and the crystal-blue waters of Miami's
Biscayne Bay his canvas, Christo, 47, was in Conceptual Artist Nirvana
last week as he darted about by speedboat, yelling instructions to 400
helpers who had signed on for his latest production. His plan was to
envelop eleven garbage-strewn islands between Miami and Miami Beach
with some 6 million sq. ft. of pink polypropylene. Christo's $3.2
million "irresponsible, irrational, poetic gesture," as he calls it, is
being financed largely by the sale of sketches, drawings and models of
the work. As...